ixigo Gives Its Holidaymakers Sheep Heads To Sell An AI Travel Assistant

ixigo has launched Don't Follow the Herd, a campaign for TARA, its AI travel assistant, in which holidaymakers crowding the same beaches and cafés all have the heads of sheep.
- Brand: ixigo. Campaign: Don't Follow the Herd
- Product: TARA, a conversational AI assistant for planning and managing journeys
- What TARA does: finds destinations, attractions, stays and experiences based on a traveller's own preferences
- The film: a packed beach where every holidaymaker has a sheep's head; one traveller uses the app, talks to TARA, moves to a quieter seaside spot and turns human again
- No agency credits or media plan have been announced
The Idea Behind Don't Follow The Herd
A metaphor taken at its word. Calling tourists sheep is the oldest complaint in travel, and the film simply renders it, then pays it off by making the man human again once he stops copying everyone else. It is a neat way to dramatise a product whose actual output is a list of suggestions, which is otherwise very hard to film.
Ameya Velankar, group senior vice president of marketing and PR at ixigo, said everyone has had moments of picking a holiday destination simply because everyone else seems to be going there.
What ixigo Is Actually Selling
Differentiation in a category where every app shows the same inventory. Flights and hotels are largely the same wherever you book them, so the contest moves to discovery, and an assistant that suggests the place you had not thought of is a claim about taste rather than price. The campaign sells that claim before it sells the booking.
The film is on ixigo's YouTube channel. More campaigns.